A new group in Washington is hoping a “Citizen Cabinet,” full of 120,000 vocal Americans, might be the key to fixing partisan gridlock.

Thursday’s launch of Voice of the People couldn’t have asked for better timing, as the government shutdown illustrates exactly what they’re hoping to avoid.

The organization had its unveiling Thursday at the National Press Club and aims to use technology to let representatives know exactly what their constituents think. At the heart of its mission is creating a “Citizen Cabinet,” which “will be comprised of 275 citizens in every congressional district — about 120,000 nationwide — scientifically selected to accurately reflect the American people, and connected through an online interface,” according to a release out Thursday.

To boost its cause the group has a strong roster of former politicians on its advisory board, including former Sens. Byron Dorgan and Bob Packwood, former Reps. Vic Fazio, Bill Frenzel, Martin Frost, Nancy Johnson, James R. Jones, Jim Nussle, John Porter, John Tanner, former Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

Steven Kull, the group’s founder, was motivated thanks to his decades of work studying political attitudes at the University of Maryland.

“One of the themes that comes up again and again was the public’s level of frustration with government and … at the core is a perception that the government is not trying to serve the common good but serving the special interests and these interests then compete with each other, dominate government and we end up with gridlock and a failure to find common ground.”

The group says each Citizen Cabinet member will serve for between 9 months and a year, and Internet access will be provided to those who do not already have it.

Frost, who served in the House from 1979 to 2005, said the group could provide congresspersons with invaluable advice.

“I think it’s useful for a member and probably has a better chance than some of the other efforts because members can look at this and say, ‘Well, this is a scientific cross section of sentiment in my district. I may or may note vote that way.’”

Frost said the problem with polling is that it’s almost always done in a campaign context.

”That’s not what this is all about. This is just about getting the public to express their views on the topic of the day.”

On a regular basis, members of the Citizen Cabinet will go through an online public consultation on a pressing issue facing the federal government.

”Citizen Cabinet’s recommendations will be broken down by state and congressional district, and reported to each Member of Congress, the President, the news media and the public,” according to a release set for publication Thursday. “The Citizen Cabinet will be managed, with bipartisan oversight, by a new National Academy for Public Consultation. All of the materials presented to the Citizen Cabinet—the briefing, competing arguments, and policy options—will be vetted by a bipartisan group of experts and available online for anyone to see.”

The group’s publicity material is big on pointing out that it’s “nonpartisan,” “bipartisan” and designed to “break gridlock” and “break through polarization and gridlock,” which might sound familiar. A handful of other organizations have launched in recent years to provide middle-of-the-road policy solutions (see: No Labels, Unity 08 and Americans Elect), but this group wants to set itself apart.

“There’s a lot of efforts that have been out there but if you really look at what’s driving up the collapse in confidence in Congress, if you look at what’s really driving the utter collapse in government today, it’s this feeling that the public is not being heard,” Rich Parsons, the group’s executive director, told POLITICO. “This is the only one that gets to the core of the problem. It actually provides a mechanism to change incentives.”

Frost said he knows that any new political group in town faces an uphill battle to gain traction.

“Members will be free to ignore it or consider it,” Frost said. “It’s an interesting concept and we’ll see how far it goes. They’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Kull says this week’s shutdown is a “logical outcome” of the kind of dysfunction that cripples Congress.

“People see that these impasses are constantly happening and the problems aren’t being dealt with. While this is emblematic oft he problem, they see this kind of thing going on regularly.”